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'Racist' school's real outrage involves play structure: Guest opinion

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The nearly 40-year-old wooden play structure at Couch Park designed by Metropolitan Learning Center students was closed by Portland Parks and Recreation after an inspection found rot, termites and structural instability.
(Rebecca Koffman, Special to The Oregonian)

As parents at Metropolitan Learning Center, we are disheartened to see our school cast in such a negative light in The Oregonian and other news outlets. MLC is now coming to be known as a "racist" school with "racist" parents, a broad-brush label that only serves to diminish the entire discourse.

While we believe that there is systemic racism in the Portland Public Schools, it goes further and deeper than any one particular school.

For the past year, the controversy at MLC has created a tense and polarized atmosphere among parents, staff and the administration. As a result, many parents, ourselves included, have largely removed themselves from the conversation. We cannot speak to the veracity of claims from the competing camps. We suspect there is truth to be found on both sides. What we can attest to is the negative effect this has had on the community as a whole.

The tension at MLC recently culminated in the sudden demolition of the playground in Couch Park, our main play area and communal gathering point. The loss of this 40-year-old structure, which was originally designed and built in collaboration with MLC students, has become a very tangible symbol of the disruption at our school.

What the community needs now is to rebuild, figuratively and literally. The best way to start the rebuilding process would be to replace the Couch Park play structure.

Our K-12 students now have very little outdoor play space. They will be relegated to a corner of the parking lot, a tiny climbing feature, and a pile of bark chips where the play structure once stood. The structure served not only MLC, but he neighborhood at large, which suffers from a shortage of parks and play areas. Its absence also creates a safety hazard.

It's baffling that this play structure was demolished by Portland Parks and Recreation with little warning and no plan or funds to replace it. And it is unconscionable that a public school could be left without a suitable place to play, especially when physical education is being cut and childhood obesity is epidemic. When we met with Commissioner Amanda Fritz and representatives from PP&R to discuss rebuilding, we were very discouraged by seemingly insurmountable bureaucratic and funding hurdles.

In our opinion, this is the true outrage at MLC. But it is also our hope that giving our children and the neighborhood a safe place to play will become the rallying cry that unites our fractured school.